A Date with Fate
by The Reckless Renegade
Summary: The 2nd part of the story of Shepard and Tali.  Tali receives a bombshell in an unfamiliar environment


A Date with Fate

"Ms. Tali Vas Neema, you have a received a message from the Migrant Fleet", said EDI. Tali had an issue with the Normandy being equipped with an A.I. but she knew Shepard would appreciate cooperation so the mission could run smoothly. Still the idea that an A.I. was aboard the ship made her feel a bit uneasy.

"Thank you…EDI", Tali finally replied. The hologram of EDI disappeared and Tali went back to work so she could accustomed to the controls of the rebuilt Normandy. Being a Quarian, she understood ships better than any other race in the galaxy and, even amongst her fellow Quarians, she was probably one of the best in the Migrant Fleet. She was reluctant to converse with the Cerberus engineers, Ken and Gaby, but she couldn't help but overhear them talking about something. After a bit of eavesdropping she gathered that they were talking about how Jack, the biotic that Shepard had recruited, scares them.

She over hears Ken, "…I swear mum, that crazy bitch scares the living shit out of me. I never know if that woman is going to just flip shit and try and kill us.

Gaby, Ken's partner in crime, replies, "I know what you mean. I don't doubt Shepard decisions, but do you think he'd consider moving her somewhere else."

"I doubt it mum, I know Shepard isn't scared of her but I think even Shepard knows it would be a bad idea to piss off a crazy bitch like that", Ken replied.

Tali got a quick chuckle out of because she knew that if whoever this Jack person was, she wouldn't stand a chance if she pissed off Shepard. She waited till Ken and Gaby went to bed before she listened to the message and when she finally did listen to it she was shocked at what she heard.

She played the message, "Tali' Zorah Vas Neema, we regret to inform you that you have been charged with committing treason. We cannot disclose any further information due to your recent transfer from the Neema to the Cerberus vessel Normandy. We will send you the coordinates to the Migrant Fleet once you reply and assure that it is safe to disclose the coordinates."

"Oh Keelah", Tali gasped. "I can't believe this… I need to tell Shepard that I'm going to have to leave and book passage off the Normandy. I guess I'll leave a message with his yeoman to give him when he gets back from Illium." She took the elevator up to the CIC and saw the yeoman standing there. She walks over and nervously says, "Ms. Chambers…"

"Please call me Kelly", she interrupted.

Tali replied, "Excuse Me?"

"My name… It's Kelly. I know it might seem unprofessional but I think it allows me to do my job better when I'm in an inform environment. Is that alright with you... its Tali right?"

"Yes, Tali' Zorah Vas Neema, and I guess I don't see a problem with calling you Kelly. Umm… I was wondering if you might be able to relay a message to Shepard for me."

"Sure. What is it?"

"I'd appreciate it if you could tell Shepard to come down to Engineering when he gets back from Illium."

"Okay, I will make sure to give him the message for you."

"Thank you. I'm just going to head back down to Engineering."

Just as Tali went to head back down to engineering, Kelly jumped into the elevator and asked, "I was wondering if you wouldn't mind talking down on the crew deck."

Confused, Tali replied, "Why?"

Kelly answered, "I was hoping that we could talk and I'm curious about your race. It's not like I get the chance to talk to a Quarian every day."

Even though she was feeling a bit uncomfortable she replied, "Sure we can talk." The two reached the crew deck and sat down and started talking. Tali opened up by asking, "So, what exactly would you like to talk about?"

Kelly thought about it for a second then said, "Well I've always been curious what it is like to live in those suits."

"Well, as you could guess, it is not an easy life because a small failure could lead to our deaths. I guess I could say it is like that human disease… umm what is it called?" She paused, looked at her omni-tool, and began to search for the name of the disease. After a few seconds she looks back up and says, "…Severe combined immunodeficiency syndrome." There was a moment of silence as Kelly had a blank stare. After an extended awkward moment of silence, Tali finally started back up and said, "Basically it is like living in a bubble but we can do a lot of things that everyone else does it's just that we have to be more careful."

Finally Kelly opened her mouth and, with a concerned sound to her voice, she asked, "Is it dangerous to be on a mission like this where you are constantly under fire and could get a suit puncture?"

Tali replied, "Yes, working with Shepard out in the field is quite hazardous but our suits have suction seals so if I am shot during battle I can seal off the wound so I don't get sick."

Kelly responded, "Oh okay." Kelly and Tali continued to talk until Shepard announced that he was on his way back and that he'd be there in a about five minutes. Kelly looked over at Tali and noticed that she was really attentive to Shepard's voice. She also notices that her fingers started to fidget and twirling her "thumbs". Kelly and Tali stood up and as Tali started walking towards the elevator, she stopped her and asked, "Do you have feelings for the commander?" Tali was grateful that she had her helmet on because she began to blush. Kelly, noticing that she made her feel uncomfortable, decided to just drop it and Tali rushed off to Engineering. Kelly headed back up to her post and waited for Shepard to arrive so she could give him Tali's message. A few minutes later, Shepard was back on the Normandy and, just as Kelly was about to give him the message, he asked if it could wait till he got out of his armor.

A few minutes passed and Shepard came back down and asked, "What was it you wanted to tell me Kelly?"

Kelly replied, "Tali received seemed to have received some troubling news and asked that you join her on the Engineer deck."

Shepard, with a concerned look on his face, thanks the yeoman for doing her job and heads down. Kelly, as she did with Tali, noticed a certain aura coming off of Shepard when the other is mentioned. Shepard gets down to the Engineering deck and walks up to Tali and asks, "What's the matter Tali?"

Tali turns to him and replies, "Shepard, I'm glad you came down, I received some horrible news from the Migrant Fleet. They are charging me with Treason."

Shepard shocked says, "There is no way you would betray the fleet. How severe is the charge amongst Quarians?"

"It is as severe a charge as it is among humans except the penalty for treason in Quarian culture is exile rather than execution as you humans", she replies.

"How soon do we need to get to the Migrant Fleet?" he asks.

Tali, shocked, says, "Well I was figuring I would book passage onto another ship and…"

And before she could finish Shepard interrupts her by saying, "Tali it is no problem I'd rather make sure you get there safely. Just forward the coordinates to Joker and we'll get there as soon as possible."

Stunned, Tali says, "Thank you Shepard, you have no idea how much it means to me that you're coming with me. It will help me relax knowing you're there with me… you know because you handle bad situations well." Tali couldn't help but feel a little stupid but she really did appreciate that Shepard was going to be with her. Shepard turned back to the elevator and headed back up to his quarters to get some rest for the trip to the Migrant fleet. Tali turned to the console and began transmitting to the Migrant Fleet. "This is Tali' Zorah Vas Neema and I'm asking for the current location of the Migrant Fleet so that I may answer for the charge of treason being brought upon me."

A few minutes later Tali received the coordinates and she immediately heads up to the bridge to pass them on to the Normandy's helmsman Joker. Tali never really talked to Joker during their mission hunting down Saren but being on a Cerberus vessel any familiar face is better than having to give the coordinates to some random Cerberus operative or even worse the A.I. EDI. She gets up to the bridge and gives Joker the coordinates to the Fleet. Joker tries to make ideal conversation while they waited for the Fleet to accept the transmission. Joker turns to Tali and jokingly asks, "I'm just curious if that is really you under that suit", and there was a moment of silence before joker finally finished with, "you know because of the…mask. Yea, I'm guessing that I've made it obvious that I'm not the people person on this ship."

Tali looks down at Joker and comforts him by saying, "It's ok Joker, I'll give you credit for trying."

Just as Joker was about to say something, EDI interrupts, "The Migrant Fleet has accepted our transmission. Jeff we are to travel to the Vallhallan Threshold cluster and it will be found in the Raheel-Leyyao system."

Both Tali and Joker look over at EDI with a disapproving glare. Joker looks up at Tali and says, "Welcome to my world. Now just imagine it always watching you and bugging you at every moment."

"I'm sorry," Tali sympathized.

EDI just "brushed it off" and went back to work. Joker tells Tali that they will arrive at the coordinates in a few hours and that he'd announce it when the get close. So Tali heads back down to Engineering to keep herself occupied and keep her mind off the fact she was being charged with treason. A few hours later Shepard went down to the crew deck to grab a bite to eat. He runs into Kelly and decides to chat it up with her and enjoy an improved meal from Rupert. So he sits down next to Kelly and starts to make small talk.

Kelly lets off a chuckle and says, "Rupert's food is definitely tasting much better since you got those provisions from the Citadel. Before I would take a couple of bites and I thought maybe Ken snuck into the kitchen and made haggis or something."

Shepard chuckles as well and replies, "Yeah, I swear that I was eating something out of an Omega gutter. So how have things been Kelly?"

Kelly remembering her conversation with Tali and says, "I had a wonderful chat with you friend Tali. They are such a beautiful race and their suits are gorgeous but something about them makes me a little sad."

Shepard replies, "What is it about them that makes you sad?"

Kelly answers, "They just seem to miss out on some many things we take for granted. You know like the smell of a flower, the feeling of sand getting in between your toes as you walked down the beach, or the feeling of your hair blowing in the wind. I'm positive that under those helmets are the faces of angels." Kelly looks up at Shepard and sees that he has drifted into a thought. She couldn't help but say, "I get the feeling that you two are really good friends."

Shepard looks at Kelly and says, "Yea, she is a really good friend."

She replies, "My female intuition tells me that she would like it to be more than that."

Shepard gets a puzzled look on his face and asks, "What makes you say that?"

Again Kelly replies, "The signs are there. Every time you walk into a room she immediately turns in attention. Anytime she talks about you to others she starts fidgeting and becomes very shy and nervous which is curious."

Still puzzled Shepard asks, "Why is it curious?"

"Quarians by nature are very vocal people", she answers. "If you don't mind me asking, I curious if you feel the same way… Well do you?"

Just as Shepard was about to answer Joker comes over the intercom to announce that they were in range of the Migrant Fleet. Shepard looks over to Kelly and says, "Well, I'm glad we had a chance to talk. I'll talk to you later." Just as the elevator closed he nodded at Kelly and Kelly knew what he meant. Shepard walked to the bridge and saw that Tali was already waiting for him. As they neared the fleet, they were almost immediately challenged by the Flotillas security patrols.

Coming from the radio they heard Flotilla Security, "Identify yourself."

Tali replied, "This is Tali' Zorah vas Neema, requesting permission to dock with the Rayya."

Flotilla Security responded, "Our computers have your ship flagged as Cerberus, please verify."

"After time adrift among open stars, along tides of light and through shoals of dust, I will return to where I began.", Tali replied.

After a moment of silence Flotilla security replied, "Permission granted. Welcome home Tali' Zorah."

"We'd like a security and quarantine team to meets us. Our ship is not clean." said Tali.

"Understood Tali' Zorah. Approach exterior docking cradle 17." said the Security guard.

Tali and Shepard headed to the airlock and once they gained clearance to leave the Normandy they had to sit and wait for the decontamination process to finish up. Once the decontamination process was done Tali looked over at Shepard and Shepard looked at Tali and asked, "Are you ready for this?"

Tali took a second to answer and replied, "I don't know Shepard but guess you are never prepared to be charged with treason." Then the doors opened and then they pair of Shepard and Tali went in ready to face the storm.


End file.
